[Deathwatch] Luciano Pavarotti, famed opera tenor, 71

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

Tenor Luciano Pavarotti dead at 71
http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Music/09/06/pavarotti.dead/index.html

(CNN) -- Famed opera tenor Luciano Pavarotti, who appeared on stage
with singers as varied as opera star Dame Joan Sutherland, U2's Bono
and Liza Minnelli, died Thursday after suffering from pancreatic
cancer.

 Pavarotti, who was 71, died at his home in Modena, Italy.

The portly singer retired from staged opera in 2004, but was on a
"farewell tour" of concerts when he was diagnosed with pancreatic
cancer in 2006 and underwent emergency surgery to remove the tumor.

Although the remaining concerts of his tour were canceled, his
management said that he hoped to resume the tour in 2007.

But in early August, Pavarotti was hospitalized in Modena with a fever
and released 17 days later after undergoing diagnostic tests.

Pavarotti is survived by his wife, Nicoletta Mantovani, and a daughter,
Alice, along with three grown daughters by his first wife, Adua Veroni,
whom he divorced in 2000, and a granddaughter.

Much as the star power of Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov
revived widespread interest in classical ballet in the 1970s and 1980s,
Pavarotti's beaming charisma and bravura style captured the attention
of the late-20th-century audience for opera.

Widely considered the greatest tenor of his time, Pavarotti began his
life modestly in Modena, the son of Fernando, a baker and amateur
singer, and Adele, who worked at the local tobacco factory.

"I dreamed to become a singer when I was four and I hear my father
singing in the church with a beautiful tenor voice," he told CNN in a
1991 interview. "And I say to myself, well, let's try to do something."


The young Pavarotti -- who played soccer with his town's junior team --
joined the church choir with his father and traveled with him to Wales,
where the singing group won first prize at the Llangollen International
singing competition.

Although the experience left Pavarotti enthralled with singing, he
graduated from the local teaching institute in 1955 and taught
elementary school for two years, then worked as an insurance salesman.
He continued his vocal studies, however, working first with with Arrigo
Pola and then with Ettore Campogalliani.

Then, in 1961, Pavarotti won the prestigious Concorso Internazionale
and made his operatic debut at the Reggio Emilia Theater as Rodolfo in
Giacomo Puccini's "La Boheme." His fame spread throughout Italy and
then throughout the European continent as he made his international
debut in Giuseppe Verdi's "La Traviata" in Belgrade.

When Dame Joan Sutherland brought him onstage with her during a
performance of Gaetano Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" with the
Greater Miami Opera in 1965, Pavarotti began his American career. He
debuted at New York's Metropolitan Opera House three years later, and
eventually marked 379 performances there, including his final opera,
Puccini's "Tosca" in 2004, in which he performed as the painter Mario
Cavaradossi.

In between Pavarotti sold millions of records and raised millions of
dollars for charity through benefit concerts, often sharing the stage
with pop stars as well as other opera singers.

Of his recordings, 1990's "The Essential Pavarotti" was the first
classical album to reach No. 1 on Britain's pop charts, where it
remained for 5 weeks. 1994's "The Three Tenors in Concert," with
Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras, remains the best selling classical
album of all time.

Pavarotti joined with Domingo and Carreras in 1990, and although
critics complained that Pavarotti's vocal skills were waning, the trio
performed together for 14 years.

Among his charities were a 1995 "Concert for Bosnia" that raised $8.5
million and other concerts that raised $3.3 million for refugees from
Afghanistan and $1 million for refugees from Kosovo.

In artistic terms, Pavarotti brought to the stage a voice neatly suited
to the traditional bel canto, or "beautiful singing" style, essential
to 17th-century Italian opera.

As much about intensity as pitch, bel canto focuses the voice,
concentrating the sound with both outstanding warmth and agility. So
demanding is this work even of the best singers that Pavarotti in
concert recital could be seen rising to the balls of his feet during
the most challenging passages.

A long, white handkerchief always hung from one hand as he sang, his
eyebrows arched high in the effort, forming an expression seemingly of
surprise at his own success.

>From his small beginnings, Pavarotti rose to great heights, performing
in front of 500,000 people in New York's Central Park -- a concert seen
by millions on television -- and before another 300,000 at Paris'
Eiffel Tower.

He won countless awards and honors -- including five Grammys -- and was
named United Nations Messenger for Peace by then-Secretary-General Kofi
Annan. He launched an international competition, The Pavarotti
International Voice Competition, in 1982. He even founded a teaching
facility for young singers in his home town.

His signature aria, Puccini's "Nessun Dorma" from "Turandot," was
chosen as the theme music for the 1990 soccer World Cup, hosted by
Italy. He also performed the aria at the opening ceremony of the 2006
Winter Olympics in Turin.

The great singer was also known as an equestrian expert, organizing one
of the international show jumping circuit's most important
competitions, the Pavarotti International, in Modena. Coinciding with
that event, Pavarotti also staged an annual charity concert, Pavarotti
and Friends.

When cancer finally stopped Pavarotti from singing, it was only the
second interruption of his career.

"I think I just stop for one year when from a kid I become a man and
the voice is changing," he said in 1991. "I was an alto and become a
tenor and that is the only time I think I remember to have stopped
singing. Otherwise I have sung all my life."

Amid reports this week that his condition was worsening, it was
announced in Rome on Tuesday by Italy's cultural minister, Francesco
Rotelli, Pavarotti is receiving a newly created prize for excellence in
cultural achievement.

The New York Times' Alan Riding pointed out in a February article that
ironically, the modern-day popularity of operatic work has prompted the
building of new opera houses in many major centers including
Copenhagen, Tokyo and -- coming next year, Beijing -- at a time when
the repertoire remains rooted in centuries-old work and the costs of
production make tickets prohibitive for most younger would-be audience
members.

For opera to survive today, Riding wrote, it needs not only new music
but also "exciting young singers." Pavarotti was that singer, in the
right place and the right time for his generation.

Many thanks to TheLenGuy for posting this obituary